Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2024 Jun 19;13(12):1706.
doi: 10.3390/plants13121706.

Application of Zinc Oxide Nanoparticles to Mitigate Cadmium Toxicity: Mechanisms and Future Prospects

Muhammad Umair Hassan  1 , Guoqin Huang  1 , Fasih Ullah Haider  2 , Tahir Abbas Khan  1 , Mehmood Ali Noor  1 , Fang Luo  1 , Quan Zhou  1 , Binjuan Yang  1 , Muhammad Inzamam Ul Haq  3 , Muhammad Mahmood Iqbal  4
Affiliations
Review

Application of Zinc Oxide Nanoparticles to Mitigate Cadmium Toxicity: Mechanisms and Future Prospects

Muhammad Umair Hassan et al. Plants (Basel). .

Abstract

Cadmium (Cd), as the most prevalent heavy metal contaminant poses serious risks to plants, humans, and the environment. The ubiquity of this toxic metal is continuously increasing due to the rapid discharge of industrial and mining effluents and the excessive use of chemical fertilizers. Nanoparticles (NPs) have emerged as a novel strategy to alleviate Cd toxicity. Zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO-NPs) have become the most important NPs used to mitigate the toxicity of abiotic stresses and improve crop productivity. The plants quickly absorb Cd, which subsequently disrupts plant physiological and biochemical processes and increases the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS), which causes the oxidation of cellular structures and significant growth losses. Besides this, Cd toxicity also disrupts leaf osmotic pressure, nutrient uptake, membrane stability, chlorophyll synthesis, and enzyme activities, leading to a serious reduction in growth and biomass productivity. Though plants possess an excellent defense mechanism to counteract Cd toxicity, this is not enough to counter higher concentrations of Cd toxicity. Applying Zn-NPs has proven to have significant potential in mitigating the toxic effects of Cd. ZnO-NPs improve chlorophyll synthesis, photosynthetic efficiency, membrane stability, nutrient uptake, and gene expression, which can help to counter toxic effects of Cd stress. Additionally, ZnO-NPs also help to reduce Cd absorption and accumulation in plants, and the complex relationship between ZnO-NPs, osmolytes, hormones, and secondary metabolites plays an important role in Cd tolerance. Thus, this review concentrates on exploring the diverse mechanisms by which ZnO nanoparticles can alleviate Cd toxicity in plants. In the end, this review has identified various research gaps that need addressing to ensure the promising future of ZnO-NPs in mitigating Cd toxicity. The findings of this review contribute to gaining a deeper understanding of the role of ZnO-NPs in combating Cd toxicity to promote safer and sustainable crop production by remediating Cd-polluted soils. This also allows for the development of eco-friendly approaches to remediate Cd-polluted soils to improve soil fertility and environmental quality.

Keywords: cadmium; growth; osmolyte; photosynthesis; zinc nanoparticles.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Cadmium enters into soils through different anthropogenic and geogenic sources, which causes toxicity in plants and humans.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Different methods of used for the synthesis of ZnO-NPs.
Figure 3
Figure 3
The mechanisms of cadmium-induced toxic impacts on plants.
Figure 4
Figure 4
A model showing the mechanisms of ZnO-NPs in alleviating Cd accumulation and its toxic impacts on plants.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Mitra S., Chakraborty A.J., Tareq A.M., Emran T.B., Nainu F., Khusro A., Idris A.M., Khandaker M.U., Osman H., Alhumaydhi F.A., et al. Impact of heavy metals on the environment and human health: Novel therapeutic insights to counter the toxicity. J. King Saud Univ.-Sci. 2022;34:101865. doi: 10.1016/j.jksus.2022.101865. - DOI
    1. Rahimzadeh M.R., Rahimzadeh M.R., Kazemi S., Moghadamnia A.-a. Cadmium toxicity and treatment: An update. Casp. J. Intern. Med. 2017;8:135. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Peng H., Shahidi F. Cannabis and cannabis edibles: A review. J. Agric. Food Chem. 2021;69:1751–1774. doi: 10.1021/acs.jafc.0c07472. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Genchi G., Sinicropi M.S., Lauria G., Carocci A., Catalano A. The effects of cadmium toxicity. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health. 2020;17:3782. doi: 10.3390/ijerph17113782. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Kubier A., Wilkin R.T., Pichler T. Cadmium in soils and groundwater: A review. Appl. Geochem. 2019;108:104388. doi: 10.1016/j.apgeochem.2019.104388. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources